Design, development and evaluation of registry software for upper limb disabilities.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Data Management

Background:

• Upper limb disabilities significantly impact physical and mental health, daily activities, and quality of life.
• Effective management and treatment of these disabilities require comprehensive clinical data.
• Existing systems may lack specialized features for tracking upper limb disability progression and treatment outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, develop, and evaluate the usability of a registry system for upper limb disabilities.
• To create a centralized platform for collecting and managing clinical-management data related to upper limb impairments.
• To assess the system's potential to improve care, reduce costs, and support research and policy.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory phase to identify essential data elements for the registry.
• Software development using PHP programming language within the XAMPP environment.
• Content and interface validity assessed by 13 medical informatics and health information management experts.
• Usability evaluation by participants across various dimensions.

Main Results:

• The developed registry software includes features for user profiles, patient history, clinical records, daily activity independence, mental health, and treatment processes.
• The system demonstrated the capability to generate statistical reports.
• Participants rated the registry's usability as 'good' across different dimensions.

Conclusions:

• The designed registry system is a usable tool for collecting crucial data on upper limb disabilities.
• This registry can enhance understanding, improve care, reduce errors, and inform research and policy for upper limb conditions.
• The system serves as a potential model for registries addressing other types of physical disabilities.